After the Chargers knotted Thursday night’s game at seven, Broncos kick returner Andre Caldwell appeared to fumble the ensuing kickoff at the Denver 26. The ruling on the field was indeed a fumble, with a recovery by Chargers tight end Ladarius Green.
All turnovers are subject to replay review. After referee Terry McAulay went under the hood, with real-time assistance from V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino, McAulay reverse the ruling on the field: “After review, the runner’s elbow was down and in complete control over the football.”
But that’s not what the video showed. The ball was being ripped out before the elbow hit.
The ruling on the field becomes even more important in this situation. Because the officials determined a fumble had happened, McAulay needed to see indisputable visual evidence that it hadn’t. If anything, the clear, indisputable visual evidence showed that it had.
In other words, the evidence was strong enough to overturn a ruling on the field that Caldwell hadn’t fumbled. Instead, the evidence erroneously was determined to be indisputable that the ball wasn’t coming out.
UPDATE 10:07 p.m. ET: NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino has defended the decision on Twitter. “On the fumble that was reversed the forearm was down before ball came loose,” Blandino said. “Forearm down before elbow.” The movement of the ball before the forearm is down would seem to prevent a finding of indisputable visual evidence that the ruling of a fumble was incorrect. Former NFL referee Mike Carey has repeatedly said during the CBS broadcast that, in his view, the outcome of the replay review was incorrect.